Hossein Rezazadeh

Hossein Rezazadeh
Member of City Council of Tehran
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 September 2013
Personal details
Born	May 12, 1978 Ardabil, Iran
Political party	Front of Islamic Revolution Stability
Sports career
Sport	Weightlifting
Event(s)	+105 kg
Sports achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Snatch: 213 kg (2003) Clean and jerk: 263.5 kg (2004, WR) Total: 472.5 kg (2000, WR)
Medal record Olympic Games 2000 Sydney +105 kg 2004 Athens +105 kg World Championships 2002 Warsaw +105 kg 2003 Vancouver +105 kg 2005 Doha +105 kg 2006 Santo Domingo +105 kg 1999 Athens +105 kg Asian Games 2002 Busan +105 kg 2006 Doha +105 kg 1998 Bangkok +105 kg Asian Championships 1999 Wuhan +105 kg 2003 Qinhuangdao +105 kg 2005 Dubai +105 kg

Hossein Rezazadeh (Persian: حسین رضازاده‎‎, born May 12, 1978 in Ardabil, Iran) is a retired Iranian Olympic weightlifter. Rezazadeh is a 2 time Olympic champion, 4 time World Weightlifting champion, and 2 time Asian Games champion. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest weightlifters. An ethnic Azeri,^[1] Rezazadeh has won the Iran Sportsperson of the Year award four times, more than any other athletes in the country's history.

Career

Rezazadeh currently holds the world record in weightlifting's super heavyweight class in the clean and jerk and total. He is the first Iranian athlete to have won two Olympic gold medals. He is also one of Iran's most noted celebrities, frequently appearing on television and in the news; his wedding, which was held in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, in February 2003 was broadcast live on state television in Iran.^[2]

In 2002 he was voted the "Champion of Champions" of Iran and was one of 16 Iranian athletes granted a badge of courage from Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. As a reward for setting a world record at the 2003 World Weightlifting Championships in Vancouver, Canada, Mohammad Khatami awarded him 600 million rials (a little more than US$60,000 at the time) to buy a house in Tehran. After his spectacular performance, he was offered by Turkey’s Weightlifting Federation a stipend of US$20,000 a month, as well as a luxury villa and US$10 million reward if he switched nationalities and won gold for Turkey at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but he turned down their offer. Rezazadeh rejected the tempting offer saying, "I am an Iranian and love my country and people."^[3]

Rezazadeh surprised many at the 2000 Summer Olympics, earning a gold medal and breaking the decades-old monopoly on the gold by the Soviet Union and then Russia. His gold medal was the first since 1960 by a non-Soviet or non-Russian athlete in the over 105 kg class at a non boycotted Games. He has since broken his own records on a number of occasions leading up to his world record 263.5 kg (580.9 pounds) lift in the clean and jerk at the 2004 Summer Olympics. His total (both lifts combined) at the 2004 Summer Olympics of 472.5 kg was 17.5 kg more than silver medalist Viktors Ščerbatihs. He has been named IWF World Weightlifter of the Year, and was shortlisted for weightlifter of the century.

Rezazadeh in 2011

Rezazadeh's supremacy in the superheavyweight class has been virtually unchallenged in recent years. However, although he had not been pushed hard during his career, he was in pursuit of the all-time best IWF marks of 216.0 kg snatch (Antonio Krastev, 1987), 266.0 kg clean and jerk (Leonid Taranenko, 1988), and 475.0 kg total (Taranenko, 1988). Even though they exceed Rezazadeh's marks, these lifts are no longer the official world records due to the IWF's restructuring of weight classes, but they still remain as the heaviest weights lifted.

Rezazadeh is also referred to by weightlifting commentators as "the strongest man in the world", primarily due to his world records in the olympics.

In 2006 the Rezazadeh Stadium was built in Rezazadeh's hometown of Ardabil. It was built to honour the achievements of Rezazadeh and is one of the most modern and innovative indoor arenas in Iran today.

In early 2008 Rezazadeh participated in a television commercial promoting a real estate agency based in Dubai. His participation surprised many of his fans and was seen as demeaning to both himself and his country, given the promotion of buying estates in a land deemed as a rival. This eventually led to the decision of the Iranian Majles to ban any sort of sponsorship from any high profile Iranian - i.e. athlete, actor, singer - for any sort of product or service, due to the direct encouragement of product consumerism.^[2]

In 2008, Rezazadeh was advised by Dr. Mohammad Ali Shahi, his physician and medical athletic trainer, not to participate in the 2008 Olympics due to his severe hand injuries and his high blood pressure. To his fans' surprise and disappointment he officially announced in a letter read via National Iranian Television that he had accepted the advice.^[4] The next day Rezazdeh wrote another public letter announcing his retirement from professional weightlifting. He said "I am pretty sure that my fellow country men will repeat my accomplishments again and I hope my son Abulfazl will break my own records in future".

Immediately following his retirement Rezazdeh was appointed as the Prime Counselor for Iranian national weight lifting federation. However, instead of Rezazdeh, a young weightlifter Rashid Sharifi took part in 2008 Olympics gaining no place among the winners.

In September 2008, Rezazadeh was named manager and head coach of Iran's national weightlifting team.^[5] In January 2009, he was blamed for positive results of the steroid tests of four Iranian weightlifters. Later on, one of the team members, Saeid Alihosseini accused him of using steroids in 2006.^[6] Rezazadeh has publicly vowed to fight doping in Weightlifting.^[7] He was elected as a member of City Council of Tehran in 2013 local elections.

Statistics

Physical profile

• Bodyweight: 162.95 kg (2004 Summer Olympics)^[8]
• Height: 6 foot 1 inch (1.86 metres)

personal records

Discipline	Result (kg)	Location	Competition	Record	Date
+105 kg
Snatch	213	Qinhuangdao	2003 Asian Championships		14 September 2003
Clean & Jerk	263.5	Athens	2004 Olympic Games	WR	25 August 2004
Total	472.5	Sydney	2000 Olympic Games	WR[9]	26 September 2000

Major results

Year	Venue	Weight	Record (kg) / Rank
			Snatch	Cl&Jerk	Total
Olympic Games
2000	Sydney, Australia	+105 kg	212.5 OR / 1	260.0 / 1	472.5 WR /
2004	Athens, Greece	+105 kg	210.0 / 1	263.5 WR / 1	472.5 /
World Championships
1999	Athens, Greece	+105 kg	206.0 WR /	242.5 / 5	447.5 /
2002	Warsaw, Poland	+105 kg	210.0 /	263.0 WR /	472.5 /
2003	Vancouver, Canada	+105 kg	207.5 /	250.0 /	457.5 /
2005	Doha, Qatar	+105 kg	210 /	251 /	461 /
2006	Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep.	+105 kg	202 /	246 /	448 /
Asian Games
1998	Bangkok, Thailand	+105 kg	187.5 / 3	227.5 / 3	415.0 /
2002	Busan, South Korea	+105 kg	200.0 GR / 1	240.0 GR / 1	440.0 GR /
2006	Doha, Qatar	+105 kg	195 / 1	230 / 1	425 /
Asian Championships
1999	Wuhan, China	+105 kg	200.0 AR /	230.0 /	430.0 /
2003	Qinhuangdao, China	+105 kg	213.0 WR /	250.0 /	462.5 /
2005	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	+105 kg	200 /	260 /	460 /
World Junior Championships
1998	Sofia, Bulgaria	+105 kg	170.0 / 6	No mark	No mark

Notes and references

1. Azeris by Country of Citizenship: // General Books LLC, 2010. ISBN 1158049366
2. Erdbrink, Thomas (2008-07-26). "Iran's Stars, Erased From the Billboards". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
3. "World's strongest man ready for more". Rediff.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
4. "Iran's 'Hercules' out of Games", Al Jazeera, July 24, 2008
5. "Rezazadeh named weightlifting manager". Tehran Times. 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
6. ""سارانداليف" به جاي رضازاده تست داد". ISNA. 2010-01-26. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
7. http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=210410
8. "Rezazadeh Hossein (IRI)". www.iat.uni-leipzig.de. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
9. "World records: current". International Weightlifting Federation. Retrieved 2009-06-26.

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